In the End
by thehyruleshinigami
Summary: This is honestly the only way I can picture the fight with Yhwach ending. I'm a huge Ishihime shipper, but be warned: Character. Death.


The booming crashes of the explosion was still echoing through the landscape. Dust trickled off the broken buildings, dancing in the sunbeams. Tiles and debris rolled off the roofs. A thick cloud of smoke obscured her vision.

"Is- Is it over?" whispered the orange haired boy next to her, his voice raspy from the dust in his throat, "Did he get him?"

She stood up slowly, eyes stinging, throat hoarse, and leant forwards, trying to make out the obscure shapes in front of her, but she could see nothing. She closed her eyes and tried to reach out to him.

Wait.

No.

This was…

"Hey, Inoue? Inoue you alright?" the boy asked, but she didn't hear him. Her eyes snapped open, and she whispered: "Kurosaki-kun, something's wrong."

"Huh?"

He barely had time to register what she had said before she shot up, scrambling over what was left of the wall they had been hiding behind._ Ishida-kun, what's happened? What's wrong?_ She thought, her eyes a turbulent storm. _I can't sense him at all_.

"Uryuu!" She cried, desperate.

"Hey Inoue! It's not safe out there, wait!" He called after her. _What the hell? Uryuu? Since when were they on first name terms?_ He got up and started to run, but he lost her in the smoke. _Dammit._

"Uryuu, Uryuu!" She called out again and again, blindly sprinting through the rubble. The smoke surrounded her, choked her. She lost all sense of time, as she whirled randomly, a torrent of terror and raw emotion. Suddenly, her ankle collided with an exposed piece of framework, and she was thrown to the ground. Pushing herself up onto her elbows, her eyes slowly regained focus, and she gasped.

He- was here.

A boy with blue-black hair crouched in front of her, doubled over in obvious pain.

"U-Uryuu?" She called out cautiously. He gave no reply, just crouched there, his breath heavy and throaty. "Uryuu, what's wrong? Hello? Uryuu?!"

He slowly raised his head. A pair of glasses balanced at the end of his nose, lenses cracked. His ocean eyes locked with hers.

"Inoue…-san…" he panted, each word sent a white-hot pain tearing through his body. "You… have… to… get away..." he managed.

"What? Why?" She persisted, her voice quivering with worry.

"I had to absorb… and enormous amount of spirit particles to fire that arrow, and… in firing that… I used up all of them. My body was… devoid of spirit particles… and, replenished a little too quickly." He gave a single, raspy laugh, followed by an agonising coughing fit. He gradually regained his composure. "There's going to be… a second explosion. And I could never… forgive myself if you were caught in it. Please-" he cut off with a muffled cry.

"Uryuu? Wait what-"

"Please! I can't hold it any longer! RUN!" He yelled. Inoue scrambled behind a nearby wall.

Uryuu's convulsing stopped, and he became enveloped in a white glow. Suddenly a huge burst of spirit pressure rushed from his chest. This was different to the previous explosion. The remaining foundations were ripped from the ground by the howling gale.

The white glow that surrounded the boy intensified, growing bigger and brighter every second. At the centre, she could make out his head thrown back, arms and legs spread wide in mid-air. His shirt and cloak were being shredded before her eyes.

And then, just as suddenly as it had started, it stopped. He dropped to the ground like a stone.

The smoke had been blown away leaving the carnage of what had been Seireitei in full view. The silence that followed was more deafening than the roars and howls of the two explosions combined. Nothing remained of the 1st Squad's barracks, just a crater with a pale boy, collapsed in the centre. He lay on his back eyes closed. His glasses had landed a few feet away.

"…Uryuu?" Inoue whispered, then louder "Uryuu? Are… are you still there?" She crawled towards him, arms and legs shaking.

No response.

"Hello? _Hello_?"

His eye twitched slightly

Oh thank God.

His mouth moved only slightly, his words garbled. "I'm still here, Inoue-san-"

"Orihime." She interrupted.

"What?"

"Please, call me Orihime"

The corners of his mouth twitched with a slight smile. "I'm still here, Orihime." He opened his eyes a little and his brow furrowed. "I can't… see properly, what-"

"Oh," she reached across him and picked up his glasses. The left lens was completely gone, but the right lens was still usable. Blushing, she brushed the hair from his eyes, and placed them gently on his face.

"Thank you… Orihime" He tried to sit up, but his arms were too weak to support him.

"Don't strain yourself! Here, let me heal you first-"

"No."

She stared at him, in utter disbelief. "W-what did you say?"

His deep blue eyes filled with regret and he looked away. "You… You can't."

"But, I- I've healed you before, like in Hueco Mundo and even back when you were in hospital-"

"I don't mean it like that," he sighed, pain evident on his face. But it was not the physical injuries that hurt. He couldn't look at her, he just couldn't. "I know you have the ability to. I don't for a second doubt that, but… it's the only way."

"Only way to do WHAT?" She cried, sobs threatening to swallow her words. "You won already didn't you? Yhwach's gone, you got him," she paused studying his expression, "…Right?"

Ishida was sick of himself. He couldn't believe how selfish he'd been. "I… did 'get' him, but he's… not gone."

Inoue could only stare. "W-what? But you… the arrow…"

"Yhwach's ability is called Auswählen. It allows him to move power from one Sternritter to the other, including himself. He will only really be gone when all of his Sternritter are as well. Which… I'm so sorry Orihime… which includes me." His voice had gotten steadily quieter as he had talked. They sat there, frozen in time for an eternity.

"So… this is it?" Inoue asked quietly.

"I'm sorry." He forced himself to look her in the eye.

The storm inside Inoue raged. Grief, Loss, Hopelessness, Guilt. Not a hint of victory. Uryuu was dying. The boy who'd gone round soul society with her, rescued her from Hueco Mundo and the Fullbringers. The boy who-

Loved her.

With her memories, she could see him training, running, fighting. With her eyes, she could see him lying peacefully. Dying.

"Then- then I have to tell you, Uryuu" She leant forward, her face inches from his. "I love you."

And she did. She hated herself for not realizing this before, but she did.

"Ori…hime…" Ishida whispered, his words slurring. He didn't have long left. "I love you… too." He smiled. "Do me… a favour..?"

"What?"

"Kiss… me."

She closed the distance between them, and gently pressed her lips to his, her tears spilling onto his cheeks.

He smiled. "Thank you… Orihime… now I can pass on with… no regrets…" His words faded.

She didn't have to check his pulse to know he was gone, the ghost of his smile still on his face.

She wrapped her arms round him and lay across his chest, shaking with uncontrollably tears.

_Uryuu, you were the bravest man I ever knew. The smartest. The most self-less. The only one I have ever loved. Thank you. Thank you so much._

_And Goodbye._


End file.
